The substance of our faith

The substance of our faith

With all that is presently taking place around us, people losing their livelihood and being regarded as a treat and enemy of mankind simply because they refuse to defile their body with aborted fetuses and stem cells of other creatures, I think that it is imperative that all true believers in Jesus Christ revisit and consider the admonition the apostle Paul gave when he wrote; “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified: But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified” (2 Corinthians 13:5-6).

It is also our God given responsibility to test or prove all things and hold fast to what is good and abstain from all forms of evil. The exhortation given to us by the apostle Paul is to examine and test ourselves as to whether we are in the faith, which of course according to biblical terminology is testing the substance of the things we hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. In this particular and specific instance or occasion the substance of our faith is Jesus Christ in us. So the question therefore is, do us as believers truly believe that Jesus Christ is in us?

 Especially in this critical day and age in which we live, it is absolutely imperative that believers examine and test ourselves as to whether we truly are in the faith, since without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to Him must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Therefore, knowing, understanding and believing that Jesus Christ is living in us is critical especially dealing with this pandemic.

The way we as believers face and handle this pandemic and the agenda which propels it depends largely on the measure of our faith coupled with the admonition that our faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. For we have received the consolation that, Jesus Christ to whom all power and authority belongs dwells in us.

In praying to the Father Jesus prayed and said; “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:20-23).

Knowing and believing that Jesus Christ resides in us and having faith and confidence in Him Who abides in us is critical and it is the source of the believers victory over all circumstances as alluded to by the apostle Paul who wrote; “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” And; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 2:13; 4:13).

The apostle John also gave us the consolation and assurance by saying; “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us: By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1John 4:4-6).

As believers we should take time to examine and test our faith and consider for a moment what the apostle Paul wrote saying; “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:9-11).  

Those of us who profess to be believers in Jesus Christ and in the pretext of love towards our neighbor are ready to crucify and disown those who are exercising faith in the power of God by refusing to take a vaccine to fight and control a virus, I would like you to consider this for a moment, if the Spirit of God residing in the believer is able to give life to our mortal bodies and change it from mortal to immortal because of His Spirit who dwells in us, are you therefore implying that, the same Spirit who dwells in us is incapable of fighting a virus! And only a vaccine the work of man’s wisdom (science) that is capable of saving humanity from a virus? Which by the way defiles the temple of the Holy Spirit and disqualifies it from inheriting the kingdom of God: What a tragedy? What blasphemy! What profanity!

But truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.

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With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph